A Stepwise Procedure for Assessment of the Microbial Respiratory Activity of Soil Samples Contaminated with Organic Compounds

Soil respiration measurements are used frequently for the characterization of soil samples. Identical methods are used for the ecotoxicological characterization of contaminated soil samples as well as for quantification of the active microbial biomass in agriculturally used soils. In this study four soil samples contaminated with large amounts of volatile organic compounds, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or nitroaromatic compounds are characterized after stepwise addition of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The respiration kinetics are assessed over a period of 5 days. By means of qualitative evaluation of the results, it is demonstrated that this stepwise addition allows one to distinguish between growth-promoting effects of biodegradable organic compounds on the one hand and the toxic influence of these compounds on the other hand. Finally it is stated that a comprehensive ecotoxicological characterization cannot be performed routinely using only one or several parameters of respiration curves. There is need for further research and validation if soil respiration measurements are to be performed quantitatively in the future.